Utopian realism: future generations

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Wednesday, 11 March 2026

Essay on longtermism published in Salongen

Earlier this week, my essay "På sporet av en tapt fremtid" (roughly translating to "In search of a lost future"), which deals with longtermism, was published online in Salongen - nettidsskrift for filosofi og idéhistorie.

Reference:

— Tønnessen, Morten 2026. På sporet av en tapt fremtid. Essay. Salongen – nettidsskrift for filosofi og idéhistorie (Salongen.no). Published March 9th 2026. URL: https://www.salongen.no/essay/pa-sporet-av-en-tapt-fremtid/262022

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Brief academic CV

Awarded "Outstanding young researchers" stipend 2017 (University of Stavanger)
Chair of local organising committee of 2015 conference by "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis", main organizer of the Tartu workshops on the semiotics/phenomenology of perception (Feb. 2009), co-organizer of the international conference "Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations" (April 2011), co-founder of the annual Norwegian animal ethics conference (2012-)
Chair of Minding Animals Norway (2011-2018), President of Nordic association for Semiotic Studies (2017-2023) and Secretary 2011-2017 and 2023-, member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS-AIS) representing Norway (2014-) and the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) (2011-)
Chair of steering group for Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience lab (Cognitive Lab, University of Stavanger), 2021-2023
Chair of the board of Center for gender studies (UiS) 2019-2020
Chair of the UIS Faculty of social sciences´ Doctoral committee 2019-2020
Doctoral degree from University of Tartu (Department of Semiotics), Estonia. Title of PhD thesis (defended December 15th 2011): "Umwelt Transition and Uexküllian Phenomenology. An Ecosemiotic Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management"
Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosemiotics (published by Springer Nature) July 1st 2013-2020 (Lead EiC 2018-2020). Member of the editorial board 2010-
Head of department at University of Stavanger’s Department of Social Studies (2021-2023), until Jan. 5th 2023
Member of Norway´s Council for Animal Ethics (2017-2027) representing animal protection NGOs
Member of the editorial board of "Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap" (Kåkå, Stavanger, Norway) 2022-2025; member of program council 2025-
Member of the editorial board of Eikon - Journal on Semiotics and Visual Culture (Universidade da Beira Interior), Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (Elsevier) and Pertanika Journal of Quality of Life Studies (JQoLS) (UPM Press); Associate editor of TRACE ∴ Finnish Journal for Human-Animal Studies (Finnish Society for Human-Animal Studies); member of the Associate Editorial Collective of the journal Politics and Animals (Lund University)
Member of The Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities" (University of Stavanger) 2022-
Member of UiS research program areas "Filosofi og subjektivitet" [Philosophy and subjectivity] 2018-2022 and "The Greenhouse: A Cross-Disciplinary Environmental Humanities Initiative" 2017-2022
Member of UIS steering group for professional study in psychology 2021-2023
Professor in philosophy at University of Stavanger’s Department of Social Studies (100% position, permanent, starting August 1st 2016 (associate professor 2016-2018, professor promotion 7th September 2018))
Project leader for the Norwegian research group of the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (EEA Norway Grants EMP 151, 2013-2016)
Substitute member for Norway in the Management Committee of COST Action CA 15134, "Synergy for preventing damaging behaviour in group housed pigs and chickens (GroupHouseNet) (2016-2020)
Vice-Dean of Research at University of Stavanger´s Faculty of Social Sciences (2019-2020)
Responsible (fagansvarlig) for environmental ethics in Store Norske Leksikon (snl.no)
Member of The Academy of Sciences in Stavanger (Vitenskapsakademiet i Stavanger) 2026-

Current research fields

Agency
Biosemiotics, ecosemiotics and zoosemiotics
Child welfare, social work
Climate change, environmental change
Deep ecology (as developed by Arne Næss)
Domestication, socialisation, habituation
Economic history
Ecophilosophy
Environmental ethics, biosemiotic ethics
Environmental history
Environmentalism, activism
Epistemology
Human development
Human-animal studies (including politics and animals)
Inequality
Ontology
Phenomenology (including eco-); Uexküllian phenomenology
Philosophy of economics
Philosophy of science (especially biology)
Political philosophy
Quality of life, subjective welfare, happiness
Quality-of-life studies
Semiotic economy
Umwelt theory
Welfare research
Wolf ecology and wildlife management

Utopian realism

Wednesday, 11 March 2026

Essay on longtermism published in Salongen

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